RESEARCH

Research Highlights

Professor KANG Kisuk Unravels Mystery of Sodium-Oxygen Batteries

February 21, 2016

Hit 6499

Professor KANG Kisuk

Professor KANG Kisuk (Department of Materials Science and Engineering) has discovered the reason behind the low performance of sodium-oxygen batteries. Conflicting observations with different discharge products have inhibited the understanding of precise reactions in sodium-oxygen batteries. Professor Kang discovered that the competition between the electrochemical and chemical reactions in sodium–oxygen batteries leads to the dissolution and ionization of sodium superoxide, liberating superoxide anion and triggering the formation of sodium peroxide dihydrate (Na2O2·2H2O). On the formation of Na2O2·2H2O, the charge overpotential of sodium–oxygen cells significantly increases. This research was published in Nature Communications on February 19 under the title of “Dissolution and ionization of sodium superoxide in sodium–oxygen batteries.”